Researchers
said global warming has caused the glacial ice on the runway to turn
to mush just four years after it was built for about £30 million. It
was due to receive about 20 flights each summer but only six have
been able to land in the past two years.

The
runway was supposed to service Australia's three stations on the
continent, Casey, Davis and Mawson. The stations can also be supplied
via an American runway or by ships, which take about a fortnight to
arrive from Tasmania. The flights take less than five hours.

The
Australian Antarctic Division said global warming was causing the ice
to melt faster than had been expected. Six flights are due to land on
the runway in the coming months but none will be permitted in
January.

"That
will make it more difficult to operate this runway in the future Once
it gets to above minus five degrees in the ice, then there are safety
parameters which mean we can't [land] aircraft on that."
Scientists say temperatures have risen about two degrees in the past
50 years in the Antarctic peninsula - almost triple that of the
global temperature rise.

Australian
scientists will look at building a new runway in an ice-free site
called Vestfold Hills, near the Davis station.

"During
the first few years since the introduction of Australia's airlink to
Antarctica in 2007-8 our operations have, on occasions, been hampered
by glacial melt at the current Wilkins runway," said a
spokesperson for the Australian Antarctic Division.

"The
Australian Antarctic Division will investigate a range of alternative
or additional landing sites for fixed-wing aircraft near our three
stations in Antarctica." The Division's chief scientist told a
parliamentary committee recently that the Arctic ice cap was melting
faster than almost any other recorded thaw outs, but the pace has
been uneven.

Despite
the melting runway, an Australian supply ship, the Aurora Australis,
is currently stuck in Antarctica because there is too much ice.